Oscar Wilde

HE Bates is probably best known for the Darling Buds of May and Fair Stood the Wind for France, but Alistair McGowan is surprised that he is not known for his short stories, which he believes are the best ever written. "To me it's a minor literary tragedy that he is so little kno ...  Show more

She influenced Elvis, Johnny Cash, Churck Berry, Little Richard and host of British blues acts of the 1960s. Sister Rosetta Tharpe, with her Gibson SG and wondrous voice, was a pioneer, and she's been nominated for Great Lives by Beverley Knight, singing star turned west end actr ...  Show more

Actor, writer, comedian and broadcaster Stephen Fry first made his name as a comic performer as a Cambridge University undergraduate with the Footlights company. He went on to forge a television partnership with his university friend Hugh Laurie on the sketch show A Bit Of Fry an ...  Show more

First lecture in the Oscar Wilde series in which Sos Eltis talks about Wilde's life and his work, De Profundis. 

Zadie Smith grew up in north west London and studied English at Cambridge University. After a publisher’s bidding war when she was just 21, her debut novel White Teeth became a huge critical and commercial hit on publication in 2000 and won several awards including the Orange Pri ...  Show more

It’s 1891 and Oscar Wilde’s star is rising. His book, ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’, is a bestseller, and his first West End play is about to open. And then he meets Bosie Douglas, a young, handsome and beguiling poet. But homosexuality is illegal and they must keep their relat ...